Lady T might give Shirreffs rare winner with first-time starter
Trainer John Shirreffs is not known for producing many first-time winners. Lady T may prove to be the exception in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race for 2-year-old fillies on Sunday at Del Mar.
“She’s pretty good,” Shirreffs said Friday. “She’s a precocious 2-year-old filly.
“We’ve never asked her to work much in the morning. She’s done it all very handily. She’s got a lot of great quality.”
Owned by Jerry and Tina Moss, Lady T is by top stallion Into Mischief and was purchased for $235,000 as a yearling in 2020. Juan Hernandez has the mount on Lady T, who breaks from post 7 in a field of 10 that includes four other first-time starters.
Of the five fillies with race experience, Benedict Canyon and Keychain Girl have shown the most promise. Benedict Canyon was third going 5 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 21 in her only start, and Keychain Girl finished fourth in that race after breaking slowly and then rushing into the race under jockey Joe Bravo.
Trainer Mark Glatt said Keychain Girl “wants to be in front.”
“After a slow break, it looked like she’d settle into a good, comfortable position and she got on the bit and she wasn’t going to have anything to do with being rated,” he said. “Joe had no choice. He was going to strangle all the run out of her or let her go. She made that middle race move and kind of faltered.
“It’s back a little quick. I wanted to get her back in soon off of that.”
Real Fire, a first-time starter trained by John Sadler, recently worked five furlongs with Grade 1 winner Flagstaff.
“They worked heads up,” Sadler said. “She’s training really well. She’s a good-looking 2-year-old filly.”
Similar to Shirreffs, trainer Peter Eurton does not regularly win with debut runners. He sends out I Got a Gal, by Pioneerof the Nile. She has worked quickly, including five furlongs from the gate in 59.20 seconds on Aug. 22.
“She’s got the bare minimum in her,” Eurton said. “She doesn’t have an overload of works. She acts like she’s got some talent. She’s fast.
“When we do win with a first-time starter, they are usually pretty good. We don’t have 15 or 16 works. She seems like she’s fit enough. It’s talent she’s doing it with.”